Long Way to Happy
by sheshemarie
Summary: Catherine is back in Vegas and she has a secret, one that she hopes no one will find out. But as everyone knows, nothing really stays secret in Vegas.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, so this fic has been flying around in my head for ages. I've got at least 3 chapters wrote so far and more to come ;) **

Catherine looked up at the building looming in front of her; it had been over three years since she had been here. Scanning her eyes over the grey building that had once been like a second home to her she wondered how much had changed since she had left. On the outside everything looked pretty much the same, there were a couple of bushes now standing either side of the entrance which hadn't been there before but everything else seemed the same. Moving her eyes to the doors she brought her hand up to shield her eyes from the glare reflecting off the surface and thought of the many times she had walked in and out of them, the memories that they kept safe inside the building. Now she watched the people coming and going, some old faces and some new. She watched as a pretty brunette paused outside the doors, phone pressed to her ear. From her hand gestures she seemed to be in a heated discussion with the person on the other end, tilting her head slightly Catherine watched the woman until she entered the building and the doors closed behind her, blocking her from Catherine's sight. Catherine briefly wondered if this new person was her replacement.

Taking a deep breath she braced herself, she hated to admit it but she was nervous about going back into the place that held so many memories. Both good and bad.

Taking one last look at the building she climbed out of the car checked she had her badge clipped to her belt and her gun holstered on her hip. Finding both in place she walked to the entrance and swung the door open with a confidence that betrayed nothing of the nerves she felt.

Walking through the lab was like walking down memory lane, every room she passed brought different memories to the surface. She smiled remembering Greg dancing out of one such room wearing an elaborate headdress.

Heads lifted from microscopes as her heels clicked on the tiled floor. Some waved, to which she gave a smile and a small wave back, as others whispered amongst them, asking who this mysterious redhead was that seemed to be causing quite a bit of excitement in the older employees.

Tossing her hair over her shoulder she rounded the corner that she knew from many trips following this route, would take her to the break room. She came face to face with an excited Greg Sanders, who upon seeing her threw his arms around her body and hugged her tightly. Catherine chuckled at his antics and hugged him back; she had missed his spunky personality. Everyone was so uptight at her new job and seeing Greg brought her immense joy.

A short while later she was in the break room with all of her old colleagues and a couple of new ones. She laughed as Greg told her stories about the lab; he always had a way of making the most mundane of things seem funny. As he finished his story the conversation turned to Catherine and her life in D.C. A subject she had been hoping to avoid.

Plastering a fake smile on her face she took a sip of her coffee to buy her a little time before speaking. "It's good, cold."

The room remained quiet for a few moments as they waited for her to continue. When she didn't Sara let out a slight chuckle.  
"That's it? It's cold." Everyone in the room burst into laughter at the statement, Catherine merely smiled and tried to think of something she could tell them.

"Come on Cath, give us more than that. You got a fella down there?" Greg asked eagerly and plopped down into the plastic chair opposite Catherine. She patted his knee and smiled sweetly, declining to answer.

He opened his mouth to ask more questions when the door to the break room opened. All heads turned to see who had joined their group and Catherine's stomach flipped when her eyes saw the one person she had been hoping to avoid at all costs.

Lou Vartann's eyes narrowed as the room fell silent upon his entrance, catching movement from behind Greg he stepped closer so he could see the cause of the commotion he had heard from down the corridor. Looking over the younger man's head he was met with a familiar pair of sparkling blue eyes.

Eyes he hadn't seen since her last night in Vegas.

The tension in the room went up a few notches as the graveyard shift watched the former lovers meet for the first time since things between them had gone sour.

Lou swallowed the lump in his throat and tried to remain professional, even though his heart was trying to beat its way out of his chest. He had known the F.B.I. was sending someone to help with the case but he had hoped against hope that it wasn't her.

Clearing her throat Catherine stood up and wiped her palms on her black pants, she looked around at her former colleagues.

"Okay, fill me in on what you have."

**End of chapter one. **

**Let me know if you want more.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay, here's chapter 2. I was supposed to type it up yesterday but I ended up having a nerf war with my friends.**

Walking into her hotel suite Catherine sighed tiredly and dropped her purse and badge tiredly onto the little table, she made her way to the closet and opened it, she quickly punched in the number on the little safe and placed her holster gun and her back up into the safe and closed it again before making her way into the bathroom. She turned the shower on and stripped off her clothing, leaving it in a pile in the middle of the floor, and stepped under the spray of water.

She wanted to was h away the day's events. Seeing him and working so closely to him had been harder than she had imagined it would be, he had been nothing but polite and professional but having known him as well as she once did she could feel the tension bubbling underneath his calm facade. She knew that seeing her was having much the same effect on him as it was on her. It wasn't made any easier by the fact that the last time they had seen each other was as she tried to find all of her clothes and dress again after a passionate night in his bed.

They hadn't planned on having sex, she had only gone over to return a few of his belongings that he had left at her place and one thing led to another, which had led to them arguing about Catherine's motives for taking the job. Harsh words were spoken and names from the past were dragged up, one particular name that made Catherine whip around and glare at him. She told him once again that they had never slept together, he had come close to kissing her but that was it. Then she had grabbed her jacket off the back of the couch and stormed out of his house. The next day she was gone from Vegas.

Rinsing the shampoo out of her hair she finished her shower and climbed out, dried her body with the hotel towel and pulled her nightgown on over her head. Quietly she padded out to the bedroom and has carefully as she could she slid into bed underneath the covers. Carefully she turned so she was curled on her side and looked at the reason she didn't want to discuss her life. Reaching over she carefully brushed the wavy brown hair off of the little girls face.

Shuffling closer she hugged the girl close and kissed her forehead, she hoped they could get through this case and leave without anyone finding out her secret.

She was just drifting off to sleep, in that wonderfully blissful stage where reality becomes dreams and anything is possible, when knocking rang out and pulled her back into the real world. Grumbling she rolled over and pulled the pillow over her head, whoever it was could come back later, preferably at a decent hour when she was awake.

When the knocking didn't cease but instead got louder Catherine threw the pillow off in a huff and stomped her way to the door, whoever it was disturbing her sleep was about to be met with a very cranky Catherine.

Greg jumped back when the door flew open and an extremely pissed off Catherine snapped a hushed. "What?!"

Catherine immediately softened and a sense of dread came over her upon seeing Greg, Nick and Sara standing on the other side of the door with arms full of beer and a pizza balanced precariously on top of the bottles on Sara's arms. She unconsciously took a step forward and pulled the door behind her in an attempt to block off her room, and her secret, from the curious eyes watching her. She didn't want to disappoint them and under normal circumstances she would love to have beer and pizza with her old friends but she couldn't risk them finding out about the child sleeping peacefully in her bed.

Her friends however had a different idea and pushed past her into the room and each took various seated positions. Catherine quickly followed them and quietly closed the door that separated the bedroom from the rest of the suite, she was silently thankful that she had decided to indulge in a suite.

Greg had made himself comfy on the sofa, Sara sat opposite him in the matching chair while Nick was sat leaning against the wall with his legs stretched out in front of him. Each with a beer in their hands and one waiting for Catherine.

Taking a seat next to Greg she accepted the beer and took a sip, hoping that the noise wouldn't wake the child.

They hadn't been talking for long when the door squeaked open and a tiny face peered around the corner, all eyes turned to face the child and she called for her mother.

Catherine slowly rose to her feet and lifted the little girl into her arms; she hugged her close and whispered words of comfort. Over her mother's shoulders the little girls eyes peered curiously at the other people in the room, she wasn't used to having visitors, it had always been just her and her mom.

A throat being cleared caused Catherine to turn around and look at them; she knew they were expecting answers. Taking a deep breath she moved the girl so she was resting on her hip and stroked her messy brown waves, a look of tender love crossing her face as she looked at the child. "This is Aimee, my daughter."


	3. Chapter 3

**Just a brief chapter this time but I will have a new, longer one up ASAP.**

The stunned faces stared at her, waiting for her to explain further. She couldn't just tell them she had a daughter and leave it at that!

She was saved, if only briefly, by Aimee tapping her on the cheek. "Juicy." The little girl requested in a sweet voice and tilted her head to the side, studying her mother's face.

Catherine kissed her forehead and placed her back on the ground. "Go back to bed and mommy will bring you your juice cup."

The child twirled her fingers in her hair and looked around the room, unsure of all the new faces. She wasn't used to her mother having guests; it had always been just the two of them. It was the only thing she knew and to suddenly have three new people in her temporary home was a little daunting.

Catherine could sense her daughter's unease and gently rested her hand on top of Aimee's head. "It's okay sweetie, these are, mommy's friends." She pointed to each of them in turn and introduced them, each giving a little wave when their name was said. "Mommy used to work with them a long time ago."

The small head turned upwards to face Catherine. "Fwiends?"

Smiling softly Catherine nodded, the child, comforted by her mother's reassurance, turned back to the strange people and smiled. Sara gasped softly at the resemblance in the young girls face to a certain detective. They had the same smile.

Catherine, hearing Sara's gasp, mentally cursed. She had made the connection and figured out who Aimee's father was. With pleading eyes Catherine subtly shook her head, begging Sara not to say anything to Aimee.

Quickly turning Aimee she patted her bottom and sent her back into the bedroom, she quickly grabbed the pink beaker off the small table and filled it with juice, avoiding the eyes of her friends the whole time.

After giving the drink to her daughter she tucked her on with her stuffed hippo and kissed her forehead before going back into the other room, closing the door behind her. She turned to face her friend and crossed her arms over her chest, an attempt to shield herself from the questions she knew would be coming.

Remaining standing Catherine took a deep breath and explained.

"Before any of you ask, no Lou doesn't know about her and I want it to stay that way. The night she was conceived was a mistake but I refuse to regret what it gave me. Aimee is the best thing that's happened to me in a long time. He made it pretty clear that night that we were over and he didn't want to see me again, now I can't help the fact that I have to work with him but I can keep Aimee a secret." She saw Greg open his mouth to speak and held her hand up to stop him. "Save the speech, I don't want to hear it. Lou and I ended on bad terms and for him to suddenly have a daughter would ruin his life. He deserves to meet someone young and beautiful, someone who isn't completely fucked up."

Releasing a shaky breath she sat on the small sofa again and rested her head in her hands. Silence engulfed the room as everyone tried to process what she had just said.

Carefully, so as not to enrage her, Sara spoke up. "You should tell him Catherine, he has a right to know."

She knew they were right, she knew that Lou should know about his daughter but she couldn't bring herself to do it. What if he decided to try for custody and she lost her? She couldn't live with herself if that happened.

"I think I'd like to be alone now please." She said quietly and stood up.

Slowly everyone said their goodbyes and left, leaving Catherine stood in the middle of her quiet hotel room and drama that could belong on a soap opera.

She had some serious thinking to do.


	4. Chapter 4

The next few days passed in a blur of hard decisions for Catherine. One minute she had decided that she would tell Lou about the child they had conceived together and the next minute she was worrying over all the fears that had been preventing her from telling him. She just didn't know what to do. Their relationship was already strained, if he found out about this it would be shattered beyond repair.

Sara had broached the subject with her a couple of times when they were alone and Catherine had given her the same answer each time, she didn't know what she was going to do.

Today found her stood at the end of one of the white plastic topped tables pouring over evidence in hopes that they would find something and move the case forwards. Sara was stood to her right examining a picture of the latest victim while Nick was perched at the computer in the corner, quickly tapping away on the keys as he searched the database for any crimes similar to the current one. The room was quite as each member went about their assigned tasks, all focused on finding the sadistic bastard that was butchering young girls and leaving their mutilated bodies in various outdoor locations. The FBI had been working this case for months and suddenly the perp had upped and moved to Vegas, his next victim located in a trash filled alley behind a known homeless hangout. That been a nightmare to process. Looking at all the pictures of the scene now made Catherine glad that she didn't have to search through all that garbage anymore. She could remain relatively clean now and more often than not she could get away with not having to change her clothes during shift or wear those unflattering coveralls.

The overhead speaker crackled to life breaking Catherine's concentration when the receptionist asked for Catherine at the front desk, she had visitors. Wondering who could possibly be visiting her at the lab Catherine turned around and looked through the glass wall to where she could see Judy waving at her, she gestured to someone just outside of Catherine's line of vision.

Wrinkling her brow Catherine placed her glasses on the table and opened the door, she took a few steps down the corridor when a familiar brown haired child flew around the corner and ran as fast as her little legs would carry her towards Catherine.

"Mommy!" The child happily cried and wrapped her small arms around Catherine's legs, nuzzling her cheek against them and looking up at her mother with big eyes.

Stunned Catherine lifted Aimee into her arms and looked up to see her babysitter approach her with an apologetic look on her face.

"I'm sorry Ms. Willows. I know you said not to bring her here but my dad has been taken into hospital..." Catherine held her hand up to stop the girls babbling.

"Its fine Donna, your father needs you." Catherine knew they were drawing attention from the other rooms, she could feel the eyes watching her. This wasn't going to end well.

The girl thanked Catherine, kissed Aimee on the cheek and quickly left the building leaving Catherine holding her daughter in the middle of a busy lab. She sighed and scanned her daughter's delicate features.

"What are we going to do with you?" She mused and placed a kiss on Aimee's nose.

"Catherine, a word." His voice broached no argument.

Closing her eyes briefly Catherine took a steadying breath and turned to face Lou. His eyes fixed on the young girl in her arms. Catherine tightened her hold and turned her body slightly, wanting to shield the child from his inquisitive and furious gaze. She wanted to run away and forget all about the case take Aimee and go back to their home, where it was just the two of them and they were safe. But she didn't.

It was time to face the consequences of her actions. It was time to tell him the truth about what had happened 9 months after she had left three years ago.

She called Sara over, who had of course been watching the exchange from the doorway, and with a little coaxing and reassurance the little girl went with her to find some crayons and a colouring book. When Catherine turned ace Lou his eyes were dark and his arms crossed over his chest. She had seen this look only a few times and usually it was directed at the criminals he worked to put behind bars. Without another word he turned on his heel and walked briskly down the corridor towards the lesser used labs.

Hesitant, Catherine slowly followed him. She wasn't sure she wanted to be in a room alone with him right now, she could use the moral support of her friends. And maybe the buffer they would provide if tempers got too flared. But she knew this had to be done privately, just the two of them. If she brought a third person into the room it would surely piss Lou off even more.

She passed Nick on her way; he reached out and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Want me to come with?"

As tempting as that was she declined. She'd got herself into this mess and it was only her that could get out of it, or explain it to Lou at least.

"No, I'll be okay. Thanks though." She attempted a smile that didn't do much except curl the corners of her lips and continued on her way.

Greg was walking through the labs on his way back from nailing the guy who had been conning old women into transferring their money to a secure bank account for 'safe keeping.' Only it wasn't safe, he had been using that money to buy himself all the latest gadgets. He was in need of coffee, lots and lots of coffee. He rubbed his eyes and sighed deeply, counting down the hours until shift was over and he could go home.

He reached the door to the break room, hand poised on the handle to open it and reach the holy land of coffee and biscuits, when loud voices made him stop. He peered around the empty corridors trying to locate the source of the ruckus. It was a male and female that much he could tell, but as to what they were arguing about he had no clue.

Through the glass wall he spotted Nick and Sara inside the break room with their backs to him and entered.

"Hoo boy, you heard that?" He asked, dropping his jacket into one of the plastic chairs by the door.

They were both focused on something on the floor in front of them when he entered. At Greg's voice Nick turned around and told him to close the door. Doing as he was told Greg closed the door and turned to face his friend who had moved from his seated position to stand next to Greg.

"Lou saw Aimee, they've been tearing into each other ever since."

Now Nick had moved Greg could see the little girl sat at Sara's feet. Her legs were crossed and she was bent almost double as she concentrated on colouring the turtle on the page in front of her. A curtain of dark waves fell over her face breaking her concentration; she put down her crayon and used both hands to push the hair back before going back to her masterpiece.

"Does she know?" Greg quietly asked the Texan.

"No, we're trying to keep her occupied but if they get any louder she's going to start noticing." He glanced out the glass windows towards the room Lou and Catherine had sealed themselves inside.

They all focused their attention back on Aimee and watched her in silence, all wondering what was going to happen now that Lou knew he had a daughter. She was so small and innocent; she didn't know anything of the mess she was tangled in the middle of. Her tongue poked out slightly as she tried to stay inside the lines just like her mommy had shown her. It was a good attempt, just one that failed more than it succeeded. She hummed along to some unknown tune and tilted her head to examine her work.

"She really is adorable." Greg commented with a smile.

Upon hearing the voice of Greg Sanders, Aimee looked up, pushed her hair back again and shuffled closer to Sara on her bottom and resumed colouring.

All occupants of the room jumped when a loud crash rang out from the direction of the warring parents.

Aimee wrapped her arms around Sara's legs. "Want Mommy." She cried softly and buried her face against the back of Sara's knee.

While Sara comforted the upset child Greg and Nick approached the room which held the ex-lovers. The sudden silence was far more terrifying than all the arguing had been, numerous scenarios ran through their heads. What had caused the crash? Had someone been hurt in a fit of rage?

Nick reached the door first and after a quick glance at Greg, who nodded at him to go ahead; he reached out and slowly turned the handle. Bracing for whatever lay beyond.

Before he had a chance to open the door it was yanked open from inside making Nick stumble slightly as he tried to steady his feet. Paying no attention to them Lou stormed past and out of the building, kicking a trashcan on the way out, leaving a large dent in it.

They watched him go before nervously entering the room, Greg nudging Nick in front of him. At first it seemed the room was empty, they scanned the room looking for their friend only to come up empty. The big table dominating the centre of the room had papers scattered all over it and prevented them from seeing anything below waist level on the other side. Nodding to each other the slowly rounded the table and found Catherine on her knees picking up shards of broken glass.

"Cath?" Nick gently placed his arm on her shoulder once again and knelt down beside her. His heart broke at the sight of her tears running down her cheeks.

"He hates me." She whispered and turned her attention back to the broken glass.

"No Cath, he doesn't hate you. He's just angry, give him time to cool down and try talking to him again."

Gently taking her hands away from the glass before she cut herself Nick helped her up and handed her a tissue to dry her eyes with.

"Where's Aimee?" Her eyes quickly travelled to the door, panicked that her daughter wasn't where she could see her.

"She's with Sara." Greg spoke up for the first time and gently led Catherine to where her daughter was curled up against Sara's chest.

Catherine quickly scooped her daughter up and inhaled her child's scent. Without much explanation she told them she was leaving and wouldn't be back again until next shift. Nobody tried to argue with her and watched with worried expressions as she carried her daughter out the same exit Lou had gone through only moments before.

They all hoped that the adults could sort this all out for the sake of Aimee.


End file.
